Emergency workers such as firefighters, and the like, and workers that handle biological and hazardous materials, often require the use of full body suits for their work, such as type Level A and Level B Suits. A Level A Suit is a suit worn when the highest level of skin, respiratory, and eye protection against chemicals is needed. The suit consists of a totally encapsulating, vapor-protective ensemble worn with a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) when the environment in which tasks have to be performed presents immediate danger to life and health (IDLH) hazard at both a respiratory and skin contact and impairs a worker's ability to escape. The level B Suit is worn when the highest level of respiratory protection is required but a lesser level of skin protection is needed. The suit consists of a chemical liquid splash protective suit worn with an SCBA when the environment presents an IDLH inhalation hazard, but does not present a skin contact hazard nor does it impair a worker's ability to escape. These full body suits have been known to have condensation problems that seriously affect their usefulness.
A common problem with these suits is that the masks worn by the workers and/or the visors on the suit become fogged within approximately five minutes of use. The build up of condensation on the visors and/or masks reduces the worker's visibility so as to not allow the worker to effectively perform the precision tasks required in their jobs. This lack of visibility causes which reduces the operating time of the workers and can become fatal when working in environments having smoke, hazardous chemicals and the like. Additionally, it is a known fact that firefighters and emergency type workers can only stay in their suits for approximately twenty minutes, due to the air supply and the heat conditions from typical fires that can lead to dehydration. That means that every second is valuable for the limited amount of time that the firefighter and emergency worker can wear their suits. Thus, the decreased visibility and high degree of body heat will shorten the working time in the suit and will have drastic effects on the effectiveness of the person wearing the suit.
The typical technique of handling the condensation problem is for the firefighters to carry towels which are used to wipe clean the mask and the visor of the suit. Based on the condensation problem, the firefighter would typically have to clean their masks and/or visors every five minutes while they are fighting a fire. However, to use the towels, the firefighter would have to open their suits exposing their bodies to the dangerous environment which they are in. Alternatively, the firefighter would have to leave the fire to clean their masks and/or visors every seven minutes. Furthermore, the towel solution is also problematic because the user must spend time to wipe the condensation away, which reduces the time spent on their work tasks. Also, the user must carry the towel which also takes up valuable space and one of the valuable hands of the user which takes away the effectiveness of the worker performing their work.
Various types of modified body suits that include fluid chilled systems, pre-chilled or forced air systems, passive cooling systems, ice or gel or cool packs, evaporative cooling, and environment cooling systems have been developed to deal with condensation problems, but come with their own problems. Many of these added on components can be expensive, require electricity and batteries to operate. Additionally, many of these added on systems have moving parts that require regular maintenance. Mobility with these modified suits is often limited because of having separate components, such as the reservoir and pump are which are separate from the suit garment. These modified suits also can add substantial weight to the body which can tire and slow down the effectiveness of the user. Further, these add on systems, and components take up precious space which further can limit the length of operation of users wearing the modified suits. Still furthermore, these added on component systems are often uncomfortable to wear, require additional undergarments, and can be cold and damp to the wearer of the modified suits further adding to the discomfort of their use.
Anti-fogging solutions such as products such as RainEx® and the like, can be used on the masks and/or visors. However, these solutions only delay when condensation occurs. For example, the RainEx® product has been tested to delay the start of condensation which causes the fogging effect only up to approximately seven minutes, which means that the masks and/or visors still have to be wiped clean with towels after seven minutes instead of after five minutes.
Thus, the need exists for solutions to the above problems.